Romantic Elderly Couple Commits Suicide Hand-In-Hand In Protest Of France’s Euthanasia Ban
The startling discovery of an ageing couple who checked into one of Paris's best-known hotels to commit suicide has forced France to once again ask difficult questions about patients' choice to die.
By Sadho Ram — 26 Nov 2013, 06:01 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
An elderly couple has staged a double suicide in one of Paris’s most famous hotels to call for euthanasia to be legalised in France
Georgette and Bernard Cazes, both 86, checked into the Lutetia last Thursday and ended their lives holding hands after more than 60 years of marriage.
dailymail.co.uk
Georgette and Bernard Cazes, 86, were found hand in hand in a double suicide at the romantic Hotel Lutetia in Paris, pictured. They left a letter attacking the authorities for not letting them choose euthanasia.
Image via dailymail.co.ukAfter checking into The Lutetia on Thursday evening, the Cazes, who had been inseparable since they married as student sweethearts sixty years ago, ensured their bodies would be discovered quickly by ordering a room-service breakfast for the following morning.
theguardian.com
The Cazes chose the Lutetia because they reportedly stayed there as newlyweds.
The couple, from the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux, was found in their hotel room, with the room perfectly made up.
elitedaily.com
They had asked staff to bring them breakfast in bed before they committed suicide, ensuring that their bodies would be found quickly.
It is not known whether they were suffering from any diseases.
At the scene of the double suicide was a letter to police “demanding the right to die in a dignified manner”
Police found two documents in the room, which was undisturbed: one, a letter for the couple's family; the other, a typewritten missive addressed to the French public prosecutor demanding "the right to die in a dignified manner".
theguardian.com
According to The Local, the letter said “it was cruel” that tax payers were denied the “freedom” to die when they wanted.
In it Georgette Cazes voiced her anger at not being allowed to leave the world "peacefully" and declared her letter a formal legal complaint for the "non respect of my liberty".
Georgette Cazes criticised the law "banning access to any lethal pill that would allow a gentle death". She added: "Isn't my liberty being limited by that of others? What law prevents a person who has no responsibilities, whose tax affairs are in order, who has worked all the years she wanted and then carried out voluntary work in social services, what law forces her into cruel practices when she wants to leave life peacefully?"
theguardian.com
The woman wrote that she had asked her son to pursue the case after her death
He told Le Parisien newspaper, which published romantic black and white pictures of the Cazes as youngsters walking hand in hand through Paris, that his parents had been planning their double suicide "for decades".
elitedaily.com
"They feared being separated and being dependent a lot more than they feared death," he said.
theguardian.com
Euthanasia is currently illegal in any form in France, although in 2005 France approved a law that allows people to decline extreme medical treatment
Euthanasia of any form is illegal in France. Recent polling, however, shows that between 56 and 92% of French citizens wish for assisted suicide to be made legal for people with incurable or terminal diseases.
elitedaily.com
French President Francois Hollande funded a six-month study on euthanasia last year and has urged his government to respect the will of the people.
Preventing euthanasia from being legalized are the same ultra-religious conservatives who protested France’s same-sex marriage bill.
dailymail.co.uk